End-closure



Jul 10, 1962 enl- J. R. COULSON ETAL 3,043,471

' END-CLOSURE Filed Dec. 31, I957 INVENTORS JOHN R. 00UL$0II WALTER EJLLEUELLYII United States Patent 3,043,471 END-CLOSURE John R. Coulson, Hagerstown, Md., and Walter E. Llewellyn, Falling Waters, W. Va., assignors to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 31, 1957, Ser. No. 706,337 1 Claim. (Cl. 220-96) The present invention relates to a novel container,

and especially to a novel end-closure assembly to be used therewith. More particularly, the present invention relates to anovelcontainer for use in the packaging of bulk material, such as blasting compositions, which container must at times be carried from place to place by hand.

. There are numerous instances in the packaging arts in which it is necessary to provide a container with a handle which may be grasped manually to lift the container and to transport it from place to place. For example, a variety of blasting compositions for use in the mining and quarrying arts are packaged in large cyclindrical containers. The top cover of such containers is frequently provided with a wire bail which can be grasped manually by the operator in the field to transport the container. In the case of a blasting agent, the bail may also be used as a means for attaching a rope to the container so that the container may be lowered into a bore-hole.

The difliculty with prior art containers of this type is that the bail normally lies flat against the face of the container cover. This is necessary in order that the containers may be stacked one atop the other for transport andstorage. To grasp the-bail it is first necessary to raise the bail from its position against the cover with fingers. This is often difiicult to do since mud, snow, ice or even paint on the cover of the can frequently causes the bail to stick to the cover and resist elevation from the flat position. A further difliculty arises from the fact that men in the field frequently wear heavy gloves or mittens which seriously reduce their digital dexterity, making it even more difficult to lift the bail from its position against the face of the container cover. There has long been a need in the container arts, especially those arts wherein containers are exposed to atmospheric weather conditions and are transported and used out-of-doors, for a container having some sort of handle means on the top cover which may be simply and easily grasped at any time even by a person wearing heavy gloves or mittens, and which may be conveniently stacked in long vertical columns with other like containers.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel container which meets the foregoing requirements.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a container which is economical to manufacture and convenient to use. Other and additional objects will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing specification and claim.

The container of the present invention includes a top cover member having a raised portion on its outer face. The edge of the raised portion is inclined at an acute angle to that portion of the cover member from which Patented July 10, 1962 being stacked atop the first, the bail is depressable and will be forced down to lie generally flat against the upper surface of the cover member. When the downward force is removed, the bail reverts to its partially-elevated position.

In order to more fully understand the invention, reference is now made to the accompanying drawing in which FIGURE 1 represents an elevational view of the novel end-closure assembly of the container of the pres ent invention. FIGURE 2 represents a top view of the end-closure assembly of FIGURE 1, and FIGURE 3 represents a condensed side view of portions of two containers having the top end-closure assembly of FIGURE 2 with portions being broken away for illustration purposes.

-In the drawing 1 represents the novel top end-closure assembly of the present invention in its entirety. The end-closure consists of a cover member 2 to which is affixed a wire bail 3. The wire bail is for-med of spring stock as will be more particularly hereinafter described. For illustration purposes the cover member 2 is shown as being circular in configuration and the description will be on this basis throughout the specification. It is to be expressly understood however that the end-closure may be made in other configurations such as elliptical, square, hexagonal, etc., for use with correspondingly shaped containers and all such end-closures as otherwise contain the features of the invention are contemplated as falling within the scope of the invention.

The cover member 2 shown in FIGURES 1-3 is a top end-closure for a cylnidrical container 8 of any conventional type. The container may be formed of wood, metal, heavy-duty cardboard, or other suitable material. Its contents, which may be a pulverulent blasting composition or other material, is indicated at 10 in FIG- URE 3.

A principal feature of the top end-cover 2 of the present invention is the presence of a raised portion 4 spaced inwardly of the outer periphery of the cover. Where the cover is circular, as illustrated in the attached drawing, the raised portion 4 will normally also be circular and will usually be concentric with the outer periphery of the cover. The edge 5 of the raised portion which connects the raised portion with the next adjacent portion of the cover is inclined at a generally acute angle with respect to the said adjacent surface of the cover from which the raised portion 4 protrudes. A pair of saddle straps 6, 6') is aflixed to the top of the cover on opposite sides and directly adjacent to the inclined edge 5 of the raised portion 4. These saddle straps serve as anchors for the legs 7, 7 of the wire bail 3. The inner sides of the base of the legs 7, 7' normally bear against the inclined edges of the raised portion 4 which under normal circumstances prevents the bail 3 from falling to a position flat against the face of the cover 2. The bail 3 is thus normally maintained in at least a partially-elevated position, as shown especially in FIGURE 3 and by the solid lines in FIGURE 1.

If a force is applied to the bail from above however, such as by a second full container being loaded atop the cover member 2 of the first container, the bail memher 3 is depressable and will be forced down into a position flat against the face of the cover 2. This is the position represented by the bail member depicted at 3a by dotted lines in FIGURE 1 and 3b in FIGURE 3. The bail assumes assumes this position by spreading its legs against the retaining action of saddles 6, 6' and the inclined edge 5. In its lowermost position, the legs of the bail will spread to completely straddle the raised portion 4, thus permitting the bail to lie flat against the upper surface of the cover member 2. When the top concontainer is removed, the bail will revert to a partiallyelevated position.

The base closure 9 of the container is exactly like the top end-closure 1 except that it does not have a bail nor anchor saddles for a bail. The base closure 9 is also reversed with respect to the top end-closure 1 such that the raised portion thereof projects downwardly whereas the raised portion 4 of the top end-closure projects in an upward direction. Since the outermost surface of the raised portion 4 may conveniently be formed flush with the peripheral lip of the cover, the raised portions 4 of the top and bottom closures of adjacent containers may thus lie flat against each other with the bail depressed, as illustrated in FIGURE 3. This permits ready stacking of a column of containers Without interference from the bails 3 of each top end-closure.

The wire bail 3 is formed of suitable spring stock of such a diameter that it is sturdy enough for normal use and flexible enough to permit it to operate in the manner described above. It may conveniently be formed such that it will depress under the influence of a downward force of about pounds or more.

The particular anchor saddles 6, 6 illustrated in the drawings may be replaced by other suitable anchor means for holding the ends of the legs 7, 7 of the bail 3 in at fixed position atop the cover 2.

Similarly, the precise configuration of the raised portion 4 is not critical to the invention. It may be a unitary portion, as illustrated in the drawings, or it may be in several sections. tion 4 is preferred since it represents the simplest, most economical shape from the manufacturing standpoint, and is easy and convenient to use.

It will be readily apparent from the foregoing description that the end-closure assembly of the present invention is an economical and convenient expedient for handling and transporting containers manually from place to place. Many changes may be made in the construc- A continuous circular raised portion of the component elements thereof and in the arrangement of these components without departing from the spirit of the invention. We therefore intend to be limited only by the following claim.

We claim:

An end'closure assembly for a cylindrical container comprising a circular cover having a circular raised portion inwardly of and concentric with its outer periphery, the side wall of said circular raised portion being inclined at an acute angle to the place of that portion of the cover from which the raised portion projects, a pair of saddle members secured to said cover at points on opposite sides of and just adjacent to said circular raised portion, a flexible wire bail having curved legs pivotally afiixed to said saddle members for swinging movement relative to said cover, said legs being constructed and arranged to engage said side wall with camming action and to maintain the bail in at least a partially-elevated position when there is no pressure on the bail, said wire bail being depressable under the influence of a downwardly directed force thereon such that the legs of the bail can spread laterally to straddle the raised portion and permit the bail to lie relatively flat against the upper face of the cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 235,280 Norton Dec. 7, 1880 815,983 Sherman Mar. 27, 1906 993,163 Grilk May 23, 1911 1,733,719 Bonnell Oct. 29, 1929 2,147,471 Tyrrell et a1. Feb. 14, 1939 2,295,854 Lindsley Sept. 15, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,081,819 France June 16, 1954 200,194 Australia Nov. 2, 1955 

